Matthews, an undrafted guard out of Marquette, played an important roll for Utah last season as a rookie. After trading away swingman Ronnie Brewer, Matthews stepped in and started 48 games for the Jazz, appearing in all 82.

In the postseason, Matthews was given the assignment of guarding the opposition's best player, matching up against Denver's Carmelo Anthony in the first round and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant in the second round.

To get a better look at Matthews, who goes from undrafted to $34 million dollar man in 12 months, the blog turns to Utah Jazz beat writer Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune and Utah Jazz fan Joey Parker, of fan site UtahJazz360.com.

What’s the first thing Blazers fans need to know about Wesley Matthews?

Siler: What struck me most about Wes was that he carried himself like a fifth-year veteran in the NBA from the day he arrived as a rookie. The Jazz had two other shooting guards about the same age as him in Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles -- both of whom had been in the NBA for several seasons -- yet Wes talked about himself, his situation, his role with a different kind of maturity. Maybe that’s from playing four years at Marquette, but he just didn’t have any trouble adapting to things as a rookie.

He also clearly has belief in himself as a player. He went to training camp with a Jazz team that wasn’t expected to keep anybody without a guaranteed contract and was deep in the luxury tax already. Wes has said that he expected to make the team all along and he managed to take advantage of his opportunities during the preseason. A lot of guys would have just taken the guaranteed money in Europe and put their NBA dreams on hold.

The biggest other thing is that most people automatically link Wes to his father, given that they’re both NBA players. Wes’ mother, Pam Moore, was a far bigger influence in his life and raised him in Madison, Wis. Wes was planning to change his jersey number from 23 to 11, which was his mother’s old number, for this season. Wes has said his relationship with his father, who lives in Atlanta, has grown in recent years.

Parker: He has that classic "undrafted player who will do anything to make it" mentality. Dives for loose balls, plays defense hard all the time; but at the same time, he is skilled offensively and VERY smart.

Also, a couple random things that Jazz fans learned:

• He goes by Wesley, not Wes.

• Yes, he is the son of former NBA player Wes Matthews, but he was raised by his mother, who is also a star athlete and kind of bristles in interviews when people try to credit his dad over his mom as the reason he made it to the NBA.

Matthews went undrafted last year, but he can obviously play. What made the Jazz take a chance on him?

Siler: There was probably a 97 percent chance that Wes wasn’t going to make the roster when he came to training camp. The Jazz had 13 players under contract and were set to be luxury-tax payers for the first time in franchise history. But Kyle Korver struggled with a knee injury and C.J. Miles injured his thumb in the preseason. That left the Jazz needing another guard and Wes made the team. He got the chance to start a preseason game in London, hit a couple of big three-pointers and took off from there. He started a lot of games in November and December between the injuries and the Jazz’s decision to bring Andrei Kirilenko off the bench.

Parker: Going into training camp, I think the Jazz only had like 11 or 12 guys fully committed, so we knew that at least ONE of the unsigned guys was going to make the team. Plus, with everyone knowing that Harping would not be playing last season, there was room for a swingman. Many people assumed the guy who would make it would be Ronald Dupree, because he came in with the most hype at the time, but over training camp and preseason, Wesley pulled ahead of everyone and the Jazz signed him. Hard work and smarts is what makes Jerry Sloan take a chance on you.

We’ve read or heard Matthews is a defensive guy (guarding Kobe and Carmelo Anthony in the playoffs), which is rare for a rookie. What does he do so well defensively?

Siler: He battles and his positioning is solid. Unlike a lot of young players, he doesn’t hang his head when a player like Kobe or LeBron hits an impossible shot over him. The Jazz ended up losing the game, but Wes forced Kevin Durant into a missed shot late in one game at Oklahoma City. One of his best defensive games came in Detroit, when Richard Hamilton went 4-for-12 and Wes recovered after picking up his first foul 15 seconds in. The Jazz actually graded each defensive possession last season and Wes and Deron Williams finished at the top of the rankings.

Parker: The best thing about his defensive game is that he holds his ground. He has really good defensive fundamentals and he rarely goes for ball fakes. When guarding Kobe, he gets real close to him, moves his feet to stay in front of him, and then puts his hands up on the shot, without fouling.

What does he do well offensively?

Siler: He’s a pretty consistent three-point shooter (38.2 percent) and pretty opportunistic when he runs the floor. Wes was apparently much more of a slasher and scorer at Marquette and was looking to show off a little more of what he can do in those areas in his second season. Keep in mind that he was the Jazz’s fourth or fifth option most of the time offensively after Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams and Andrei Kirilenko/C.J. Miles. There’s a pretty cool stat also that Wes’ 29-point effort in a March 14 game at Oklahoma City was the highest scoring game by a Jazz rookie since Karl Malone.

Parker: The best comparison is to use is the other two swingmen on the 2009-10 Jazz. I always get mad at CJ Miles for taking ill-advised 3-pointers. Wesley shoots 3's only when he is open! He also does a great job of knowing when to drive to the basket. Driving in and making crafty layups is a great skill that he has. When compared to Ronnie Brewer, Wesley is not nearly as athletic, but he is a much better shooter, but not quite as good around the basket.

Matthews put up better numbers in the postseason then he did in the regular season. What do you attribute that to?

Siler: He was a part-time start much of the regular season but had become a full-time starter by the playoffs. I think that probably accounts for the difference in his numbers more than anything. What was most impressive during the playoffs was that he struggled in Games 1 and 2 against Denver in the first round. He shot 3-for-12 in those games and felt like he was aiming his jumper more than shooting it. The rest of that series, he scored 14, 18, 15 and 23 points. So he was able to get back on track and he hit a couple of big threes for the Jazz.

Parker: I think his regular season stats are skewed by the fact that he was sharing time, and coming off the bench, for the 1st half of the season. By the last couple months, he was averaging about 30 minutes per game, so his upward statistical swing continued into the playoffs.

When watching Matthews last year, what areas did you think he needed to improve upon. And what areas did you think he would grow the most coming into his second season?

Siler: I think he sneaked up on a lot of people last season being an undrafted rookie. With some of the attention he got in the playoffs plus the big contract for Portland, that’s not going to be the case any longer. His work ethic is impressive and he’s good at not getting fazed by NBA life. I think there’s still a lot of motivation for him from everything he went through going undrafted and still fighting for recognition. He didn’t make either first- or second-team all-rookie, which I think was pretty exasperating given how much he played on a 53-win team. It is going to be an adjustment playing in a new system in Portland and also having to maximize his minutes playing behind someone like Brandon Roy.

Parker: He could stand to improve his ball-handling, passing, and dunking. He is an OK ball-handler, but not great. And, on a lighter note, his dunking could be a lot better. It was kind of a running joke last year that the first 3 or 4 "monster jams" he tried did not go so well... As in, the ball went off the back-rim. By the end of the year, he was able to throw a few down though.